Thanks for visiting my podcast about all things Scottish, from bagpipes to whisky. I hope you'll enjoy the many guests and subjects we'll present here. My style is to chat with my guests as if we were sharing a cuppa across the kitchen table, not separated by thousands of miles of ocean. So put the kettle on and join us...

The period of 1790 to 1840 saw the Scottish Highlands and Islands opened to tourism for the first time. With that came the first vestiges of a hospitality industry that thrives across the region today, and it was largely founded by a group of hearty female innkeepers.

Scotland is populated with thousands of castles, some completely restored and others mere ruins. David Weinczok is a freelance heritage professional fascinated by the history and heritage to be found among these stone walls. He is known on Social media as The Castle Hunter and he shares some of his vast knowledge about Scotland's castles.

Besides the famous TV show, "Monarch of the Glen," a bit of Scottish history played out at Ardverikie Estate when Queen Victoria considered buying it for the Royal residence in Scotland. If not for Scotland's infamous midges, who sent Victoria packing, Ardverikie might never have become known as "Glenbogle."

Each year, Scotland’s national tourism organization, visit Scotland, and the Scottish Government put forth a promotional theme, aimed at driving tourism to and throughout Scotland while featuring specific sectors of Scottish industry, culture, history, etc. For 2017 that theme is "History, Heritage, and Archaeology." #HHA2017

Numerous volumes have been written extolling the virtues of the Scots and Scots-Irish who helped to shape the United States. Scottish journalist and now author Iain Lundy has taken a different direction, peering into the seedier side of history to uncover a rogue's gallery of Scots who left a stain on American history.

Dunnotar Castle is one of the best known landmarks of Aberdeenshire. The region is rebranding itself in an effort to restore tourism interest, lost in the wake of the discovery of North Sea Oil and its resultant economic boom.

Craigflower Manor is virtually all that remains of a once thriving 900 acre farm of Scottish emigrants in what is today Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. With help from modern-era Scot diaspora, the manor may one day be the site of a new Scottish Cultural Center and archives.

Steam trains have operated on the Fort William to Mallaig extension of the West Highland Line since it opened in 1901 following completion of the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Today the train and viaduct are world famous and most often associated with the wizardry of one Harry Potter!